Deadline reports that Michael Stuhlbarg (Boardwalk Empire) has joined the cast of HBO Max’s true crime limited series The Staircase from Antonio Campos (Christine) and Maggie Cohn (American Crime Story).
Stuhlbarg will play David Rudolf, Michael Peterson’s criminal defense attorney. He will star alongside Colin Firth (The Kindsman), Toni Collette (Knives Out), Juliette Binoche (Between Two Worlds), Rosemarie DeWitt (Little Fires Everywhere), Parker Posey (Lost in Space), Sophie Turner (Game of Thrones), Dane DeHaan (Lissey’s Story), Patrick Schwarzenegger (Moxie), Olivia DeJonge (The Society) and Odessa Young (The Stand). The Staircase focuses on “the life of Michael Peterson (Firth), his sprawling North Carolina family and the suspicious death of his wife, Kathleen (Collette).” It is based on the true crime docuseries of the same name which explored the Peterson case.
The series is based on the case of Michael Peterson, who was “convicted in 2003 of murdering Kathleen two years earlier. The charge was reduced to manslaughter in 2017, and Peterson subsequently was released from prison. He had claimed his wife died after falling down the stairs at their home after consuming alcohol and Valium, but an autopsy concluded she died from multiple injuries, including blows to the back of her head with a blunt object.”
The docuseries on the case was made by Jean-Xavier de Lestrade in 2004 and got renewed attention with Peterson’s release and Netflix bringing the series to their platform in 2018.
Campos and Cohn have written the eight-episode limited series and are also serving as showrunners and executive producers. HBO Max is producing with Annapurna TV.
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